Many products are now packaged in a variety of flexible laminate materials which provide suitable protection against contamination by moisture, oxygen or other gases and which feature a hand-peelable heat seal for consumer convenience. In particular, many coffee products, such as coffee beans and roast and ground coffee, are now being marketed in various flexible laminate packages which can retain freshness and maintain quality for long periods of time. In most conventional coffee packages, a flexible laminate is formed into a bag-like enclosure, filled with the coffee product, and sealed with a peelable seal at atmospheric pressures. Certain packages are also equipped with release valve means for venting gases generated by the coffee product after sealing. Very often, there is very minimal room provided for grasping the package where it will be opened. As a result, gripping and opening of these packages is often extremely difficult and frustrating.
Still other coffee packages are known which are designed to be vacuum sealed and which are constructed using suitably strong laminate materials that can be peelably sealed yet still hold a vacuum. One highly desirable form of packaging that is presently in use is the so-called "brick package" wherein the coffee or other dry granular food product is vacuum packed in the form and consistency of a brick. This form of packaging is particularly advantageous because it retains freshness for extended periods of time, and the package itself is desirable because it takes up little room and is stackable. Again, however, "brick" packaging suffers from the drawback that even though the closing force used is such to provide a seal capable of retaining a vacuum, there is very little room provided by which the package can be grasped sufficiently so that the vacuum seal can be broken. As a result, current brick packages are also extremely difficult to open.
Although there are many examples of packages that have supposedly peelable seals, these packages generally have structures which make opening of the package somewhat difficult or inconvenient. This is particularly the case with regard to those packages that are also designed to retain a vacuum seal. Examples of such packages are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,944,409 (Busche et al) and 4,488,647 (Davis). In the Busche patent, a peelably sealed package is disclosed in which inner sealing layers of thermoplastic materials on opposing package walls are heat sealed to form a strong bond. Similarly in the Davis patent, a flexible laminate package is disclosed which comprises a bag-like body member having a hand-peelable seal comprised of a heat-fusible plastic polymeric coating. Although these packages are suitable for holding a vacuum such as would be required in a brick coffee package, they do not disclose a seal structure which facilitates grasping and opening of such packages in a simple and convenient manner. As a result, these packages are somewhat difficult to open, thereby reducing their desirability to consumers.
It is thus highly desirable to develop a package made of flexible laminate materials which has a sufficiently strong seal to retain freshness for extended periods of time, and yet which is "consumer friendly" in that it has a readily-grippable seal region so that the package can be easily opened by the consumer.